PHOTO GALLERY: CRN Channel Award winners set the night on fire

Held at the prestigious Shangri-La Hotel on Friday the MC of the night was Adam Spencer.

The winners of the Vendor Awards were:

Consumer Hardware Vendor of the Year; picked up by Paul Robson, channel sales director, HP.

Networking Vendor of the Year; picked up by Claudia McIntosh, channel sales manager, Cisco.

Software Vendor of the Year; picked up by Nick Mayhew group manager, Partner Strategy and Marketing team for Microsoft.

Storage Vendor of the Year; picked up by Paul Robson, channel sales director, HP.

Security Vendor of the Year; picked up by Brad Newton, national partner manager, Symantec.

Solutions Vendor of the Year; picked up by Paul Robson, channel sales director, HP.

Robson said it was very humbling to win in all three categories.

“[It’s] important that we make our investment in the channel,” he said.

“We need to maintain co-dependency with channel partners to ensure mutual profitability, especially during these up and down times.”

Newton said the vendor was pleased to receive its award.

“Partners are a key factor to our success and we will continue to be dedicated to the channel which enables us to deliver security solutions that help secure and manage our customers’ information-driven world,” said Newton.

The winners of the Distributor Awards were:

Consumer Distributor of the Year; picked up by Guy Freeland, outgoing managing director for Ingram Micro.

Networking Distributor of the Year; picked up by Ross Cochrane, managing director of Express Data.

Software Distributor of the Year; picked up by Ross Cochrane, managing director of Express Data.

Storage Distributor of the Year; picked up by Guy Freeland, outgoing managing director for Ingram Micro.

Security Distributor of the Year; picked up by Dominic Whitehand, managing director of Whitegold Solutions.

Solutions Distributor of the Year; picked up by Ross Cochrane, managing director of Express Data.

“I would like to dedicate this one to the team and I salute you,” said Freeland.

Not to be outdone, Express Data picked up an impressive three awards.

“[You] are going to see a lot more aggression. No-one can predict what is going to happen in this economy but you are going to see us lots more,” said Cochrane.

Resellers play an integral role in the channel and for the first time they were allowed to nominate themselves for three different awards.

The winners were:

Regional Reseller of the Year; picked up by Nick Moran managing director, Evolve IT.

Enterprise Reseller of the Year; the award was picked up by John Grant, managing director of Data #3, from Catherine Konstandinidis solutions HR manager for Avnet.

Most Innovative Solution; picked up by Robert Allman, national business manager, Customer Interactive Solutions at Dimension Data who accepted the award from Newton, national partner manager, Symantec.

Data #3 has been a reseller for 30 years.

“We're straight down the line, we're also highly moral I'd like to think that plays in our peer’s perception of us,” said Grant.

The big award of the night; the Channel Champion 2008 was awarded to Pip Marlowe, Microsoft’s former channel chief and current Public Sector director.

Marlowe, who almost accidentally set her table on fire with her menu earlier in the evening, said the software giant was dependent on its channel.

“Microsoft has a lot of dependency on its channel. It’s an area that I have worked on for a number of years and I know it has also done a lot for its channel partners,” she said.

So ended a great CRN Channel Awards night, hope to see you there next year.

To see all the winners and the CRN Awards shortlist click here

award winners crn channel